Dear George I.O.U. $8,000

This is a Letter to the Editor that was published in the Pacifica Tribune. Pacifica, oddly enough, has a vocal group of conservatives that love to write to the paper with letters that basically come down to USA! USA! USA! I just know after London's 7/7 the War on Terror Conservatives will be beating their war drums even louder. I'm not necessarily against blowing up terrorist, however I can not sit quietly when this same group of conservatives complain about taxes. Although this letter focuses on the cost of the Iraq War for my city it applies to every city in the U.S.A. So far every person, children included, has paid $1,011 in diverted taxes towards the Iraq War. By the time it is over in 12 years each of us will have paid close to $8,000. Now take that figure, multiply it by the population in your town and you will see why all local government institutions are going bankrupt. Simple 2nd grade math.

For more information please visit Costofwar.com

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Dear Editor,

I'm all for the war on terror, low taxes and American pie. But it seems like every 6 months the Bush Administration asks for another $86 billion for the Iraq War, so I think to myself "where is all that money coming from?" Well as it turns out the only source of income for all levels of government is the taxes we pay, be it income tax, sales tax, gas tax, "sin" tax etc. I wanted to know how much the war in Iraq is costing me. I visited a website called costofwar.com which, using the U.S. Congress' own figures, calculates the on going cost of the Iraq War. Here is what I found out, and please someone correct me if I am wrong, because I hope to God that I am wrong. As of this date the total cost of the war in Iraq for just San Mateo County is $705,000,000. In 2003 the estimated San Mateo County population was 697,456. I'll assume the population is about the same now. This means that for every man, woman and child in San Mateo County the cost so far of just the Iraq War (no Afganistan not included) is $1,011.

Pacifica has about 40,000 citizens. That means so far the Iraq war has diverted away $40,432,658 of Pacifican tax dollars. Rummy recently stated that the Iraq War could go on another 12 years. The $40 million mentioned above represents about 2 years of war. That means by the time this is over Pacifica will have "supported" our troops to the tune of $280,000,000! That represents about 14 years of the city's $20 million a year entire budget!

To anyone who supports the war please keep your mouth shut the next time the Fire Department, Police Department and School Districts ask you for a new tax assesment on your property. Also please be silent when they raise the gas tax, which by the way, is the cheapest gas in the world. And hold your tongue every time they raise the bridge toll. After all the money has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is you.

Do you know what brought down the U.S.S.R.? No it was not Reagan as the Republican party would have you believe. The U.S.S.R. went bankrupt trying to build nations. So unless you want the U.S. of A. to go belly up you better pony up some hard earned cash.